Fruit and nut cereal bars and Giveaway winner

Since my last post was all about snacks, I've wanted to share 2 different recipes I recently found for snacks.  I made both last weekend, but they have had to wait to have their turn on the blog because my home was a little crazy with our floors being re-done.  I actually spent Monday and Tuesday with my couches in my kitchen.  Such fun.  Not really.  Hard to cook with a couch in front of the oven.  I could get to the microwave and stove top though.  But was highly un-enthused.   Add to that the fact that my dishwasher decided to stop working AGAIN.  Who wants to make a ton of dishes then hand wash them all.  Not me.  Top it off with a bit of sickness at our house this week and I really haven't wanted to cook much.  I guess I'm really glad I have a couple of items waiting to be blogged.  :)  I'm also glad my last post was a giveaway that I didn't mind if stayed up all week.  Yea!

Speaking of giveaway, my winner is Marissa - post number 1 again - not sure what is with random.org liking post number 1, but that is what it said again.  Believe me, I tried a few more times to make sure it was working.  :)  So, Congratulations Marissa!!! You should be receiving your package in a couple of weeks.

I happened to love Marissa's comment  she said.  "We love fresh fruit and air-popped popcorn. However, we just recently discovered "energy bites." The kids call them "energy packs" because they are totally obsessed with video games and they think these give them super energy. :) I just use whatever I have on hand, but the recipe is at http://fooddoodles.com/2011/06/28/one-bowl-all-natural-no-bake-energy-bites/. They all loved them so much, that the neighbor kid that comes over after school asked me to write the recipe down so his mom could make them!"  

I just checked out the link and now I have one more recipe to try for snack.  Thanks Marissa!

On to the post for today.  I found this recipe in my June/July simple and delicious magazine.  I liked the varied healthy ingredients in there, but then they were just stuck together with marshmallow.  (not that I'm complaining - just surprised me.)  So I ended up just calling them beefed up rice crispy treats.  The thing is, with all that marshmallow, they were super tasty.  They disappeared so quickly.  (with me eating more than my share.)    I loved a lot of things about them.  #1 I really needed to use up some corn flakes.  :)  #2 I had just bought a ton of dates and this helped use up some.  #3 They really did make a nice little quick, energy bar for me after my Summer of Seals event (500 m swim, 2 min push-ups, 2 minutes sit ups, 2 min pull ups, 1.5 mile run.)    

Oops - I didn't take a picture of these - Aaaw, I guess I'll have to make them again.  ;(

Suggestions for next time - add any dried fruit or nut.  dates and apricots were super sticky to chop.  They were also time consuming.  I'd consider exchanging one of them for raisins on future batches.  The peanuts could be easily substituted for other nuts, and the sesame seeds could easily be substituted with any other seed - making this recipe incredibly versatile.

On to the recipe...

Ingredients

• 8 cups cornflakes
• 1 package (6 oz.) dried apricots, chopped
• 1 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 package (16 oz.) large marshmallows

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the cornflakes, apricots, peanuts, dates, coconut and sesame seeds.  
2. In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter and marshmallows - stirring until smooth.
3. Pour over cereal mixture, stirring to combine.  
4. Press into a greased 9 X 13 pan.  Cool, cut into bars.